Explore Mars for Yourself

By Claire Maldarelli

Dec. 9, 2014

Image

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity obtained this image using its Left Navigation Camera on the rover's 832 Martian day, called a Sol. CreditNASA/JPL-Caltech

For a comprehensive bundle of all things Mars — from the history of the red planet to the future of Mars research — NASA’s Mars website, at mars.nasa.gov, covers everything from Mars in popular culture to a detailed list of each mission there.

Under the “multimedia” tab, images from Mars’s Curiosity rover show remains of an ancient streambed and the view from the base of Mount Sharp. A separate section called Mars as Art shows images of the planet’s geological structures, like Bunge Crater dunes, and even a Martian sunset. The European Space Agency also has its own Mars section, with the latest news and images about the planet.

An understanding of Mars’s potential would not be complete without a guide for our potential to one day inhabit the planet. In “The Case for Colonizing Mars,” the American aerospace engineer Robert Zubrin advocates not only sending people to Mars, but also establishing a colony, possibly indefinitely, for the first human civilization away from earth.

His article originally appeared in 1996 in the magazine Ad Astra, and was expanded into a book, “The Case for Mars.”

Image

In 2005, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit snapped this panoramic of the Martian sky just before the sun disappeared behind the rim of Gusev crater on Mars.CreditNASA/JPL-Caltech/Texas A&M/Cornell

If NASA sends astronauts to Mars, it plans to use a new capsule called Orion. Up-to-date news about that spacecraft, including video of its Dec. 5 test flight, can be found at nasa.gov/orion.

Image

A view from the window of NASA's Orion spacecraft as it looks back at Earth during its unpiloted flight test in orbit.CreditNASA Television

Science aside, no song better embodies the popular culture that surrounds Mars exploration than David Bowie’s “Life on Mars?” Released in 1971 on the album “Hunky Dory,” it infuses a melodic tune with personal meaning.

For some fun mixed in with learning, the Discovery Channel’s Race to Mars website invites viewers to download interactive games like Rover XPL, in which players control a Mars rover across Dao Valles, an area in the planet’s southern hemisphere.